To The Word – Day 68

₁One day Samson went to the Philistine city of Gaza, where he met a prostitute and went to bed with her. ₂The people of Gaza found out that Samson was there, so they surrounded the place and waited for him all night long at the city gate. They were quiet all night, thinking to themselves, “We'll wait until daybreak, and then we'll kill him.” ₃But Samson stayed in bed only until midnight. Then he got up and took hold of the city gate and pulled it up — doors, posts, lock, and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them all the way to the top of the hill overlooking Hebron.

₄After this, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Valley of Sorek. ₅The five Philistine kings went to her and said, “Trick Samson into telling you why he is so strong and how we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each one of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

₆So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes you so strong. If someone wanted to tie you up and make you helpless, how could he do it?”

₇Samson answered, “If they tie me up with seven new bowstrings that are not dried out, I'll be as weak as anybody else.”

₈So the Philistine kings brought Delilah seven new bowstrings that were not dried out, and she tied Samson up. ₉She had some men waiting in another room, so she shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” But he snapped the bowstrings just as thread breaks when fire touches it. So they still did not know the secret of his strength.

₁₀Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you've been making a fool of me and not telling me the truth. Please tell me how someone could tie you up.”

₁₁He answered, “If they tie me with new ropes that have never been used, I'll be as weak as anybody else.”

₁₂So Delilah got some new ropes and tied him up. Then she shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” The men were waiting in another room. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like thread.

₁₃Delilah said to Samson, “You're still making a fool of me and not telling me the truth. Tell me how someone could tie you up.”

He answered, “If you weave my seven locks of hair into a loom, and make it tight with a peg, I'll be as weak as anybody else.”

₁₄Delilah then lulled him to sleep, took his seven locks of hair, and wove them into the loom. She made it tight with a peg and shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” But he woke up and pulled his hair loose from the loom.

₁₅So she said to him, “How can you say you love me, when you don't mean it? You've made a fool of me three times, and you still haven't told me what makes you so strong.” ₁₆She kept on asking him, day after day. He got so sick and tired of her nagging him about it ₁₇that he finally told her the truth. “My hair has never been cut,” he said. “I have been dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the time I was born. If my hair were cut, I would lose my strength and be as weak as anybody else.”

₁₈When Delilah realized that he had told her the truth, she sent a message to the Philistine kings and said, “Come back just once more. He has told me the truth.” Then they came and brought the money with them. ₁₉Delilah lulled Samson to sleep in her lap and then called a man, who cut off Samson's seven locks of hair. Then she began to torment him, for he had lost his strength. ₂₀Then she shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” He woke up and thought, “I'll get loose and go free, as always.” He did not know that the LORD had left him. ₂₁The Philistines captured him and put his eyes out. They took him to Gaza, chained him with bronze chains, and put him to work grinding at the mill in the prison. ₂₂But his hair started growing again.

₂₃The Philistine kings met together to celebrate and offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They sang, “Our god has given us victory over our enemy Samson!” _24-25They were enjoying themselves, so they said, “Call Samson, and let's make him entertain us!” When they brought Samson out of the prison, they made him entertain them and made him stand between the pillars. When the people saw him, they sang praise to their god: “Our god has given us victory over our enemy, who devastated our land and killed so many of us!” ₂₆Samson said to the boy who was leading him by the hand, “Let me touch the pillars that hold up the building. I want to lean on them.” ₂₇The building was crowded with men and women. All five Philistine kings were there, and there were about 3,000 men and women on the roof, watching Samson entertain them.

₂₈Then Samson prayed, “Sovereign LORD, please remember me; please, God, give me my strength just once more, so that with this one blow I can get even with the Philistines for putting out my two eyes.” ₂₉So Samson took hold of the two middle pillars holding up the building. Putting one hand on each pillar, he pushed against them ₃₀and shouted, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed with all his might, and the building fell down on the five kings and everyone else. Samson killed more people at his death than he had killed during his life.

₃₁His brothers and the rest of his family came down to get his body. They took him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had been Israel's leader for twenty years.

₁There was once a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim. ₂He said to his mother, “When someone stole those 1,100 pieces of silver from you, you put a curse on the thief. I heard you do it. Look, I have the money. I am the one who took it.”

His mother said, “May the LORD bless you, my son!” ₃He gave the money back to his mother, and she said, “To stop the curse from falling on my son, I myself am solemnly dedicating the silver to the LORD. It will be used to make a wooden idol covered with silver. So now I will give the pieces of silver back to you.” ₄Then he gave them back to his mother. She took 200 of the pieces of silver and gave them to a metalworker, who made an idol, carving it from wood and covering it with the silver. It was placed in Micah's house.

₅This man Micah had his own place of worship. He made some idols and an ephod, and appointed one of his sons as his priest. ₆There was no king in Israel at that time; all the people did just as they pleased.

₇At that same time there was a young Levite who had been living in the town of Bethlehem in Judah. ₈He left Bethlehem to find somewhere else to live. While he was travelling, he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim. ₉Micah asked him, “Where do you come from?”

He answered, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am looking for somewhere to live.”

₁₀Micah said, “Stay with me. Be my adviser and priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, some clothes, and your food.” ₁₁The young Levite agreed to stay with Micah and became like a son to him. ₁₂Micah appointed him as his priest, and he lived in Micah's home. ₁₃Micah said, “Now that I have a Levite as my priest, I know that the LORD will make things go well for me.”

₁There was no king in Israel at that time. In those days the tribe of Dan was looking for territory to claim and occupy because they had not yet received any land of their own among the tribes of Israel. ₂So the people of Dan chose five qualified men out of all the families in the tribe and sent them from the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol with instructions to explore the land. When they arrived in the hill country of Ephraim, they stayed at Micah's house. ₃While they were there, they recognized the accent of the young Levite, so they went up to him and asked, “What are you doing here? Who brought you here?”

₄He answered, “I have an arrangement with Micah, who pays me to serve as his priest.”

₅They said to him, “Please ask God if we are going to be successful on our journey.”

₆The priest answered, “You have nothing to worry about. The LORD is taking care of you on this journey.”

₇So the five men left and went to the town of Laish. They saw how safely the people there were living, like the Sidonians. They were a peaceful, quiet people, with no disputes with anyone; they had all they needed. They lived far away from the Sidonians and had no dealings with any other people. ₈When the five men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their countrymen asked them what they had found out. ₉“Come on,” they replied. “Let's attack Laish. We saw the land, and it's very good. Don't stay here doing nothing; hurry! Go on in and take it over! ₁₀When you get there, you will find that the people don't suspect a thing. It is a big country; it has everything a person could want, and God has given it to you.”

₁₁So 600 men from the tribe of Dan left Zorah and Eshtaol, ready for battle. ₁₂They went up and made camp west of Kiriath Jearim in Judah. That is why the place is still called Camp of Dan. ₁₃They went on from there and came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.

₁₄Then the five men who had gone to explore the country round Laish said to their companions, “Did you know that here in one of these houses there is a wooden idol covered with silver? There are also other idols and an ephod. What do you think we should do?” ₁₅So they went into Micah's house, where the young Levite lived, and asked the Levite how he was getting on. ₁₆Meanwhile the 600 soldiers from Dan, ready for battle, were standing at the gate. ₁₇The five spies went straight on into the house and took the wooden idol covered with silver, the other idols, and the ephod, while the priest stayed at the gate with the 600 armed men.

₁₈When the men went into Micah's house and took the sacred objects, the priest asked them, “What are you doing?”

₁₉They said, “Keep quiet. Don't say a word. Come with us and be our priest and adviser. Wouldn't you rather be a priest for a whole Israelite tribe than for the family of one man?” ₂₀This made the priest very happy, so he took the sacred objects and went along with them.

₂₁They turned round and started off, with their children, their livestock, and their belongings going ahead. ₂₂They had travelled a good distance from the house when Micah called his neighbours out for battle. They caught up with the men from Dan ₂₃and shouted at them. The men from Dan turned round and asked Micah, “What's the matter? Why all this mob?”

₂₄Micah answered, “What do you mean, ‘What's the matter?’ You take my priest and the gods that I made, and walk off! What have I got left?”

₂₅The men from Dan said, “You had better not say anything else unless you want these men to get angry and attack you. Then you and your whole family would die.” ₂₆Then they went on. Micah saw that they were too strong for him, so he turned and went back home.

_27-28After the men from Dan had taken the priest and the things that Micah had made, they went and attacked Laish, that town of peaceful, quiet people which was in the same valley as Bethrehob. They killed the inhabitants and burnt the town. There was no one to save them, because Laish was a long way from Sidon, and they had no dealings with any other people. The men from Dan rebuilt the town and settled down there. ₂₉They changed its name from Laish to Dan, after their ancestor Dan, the son of Jacob. ₃₀The men from Dan set up the idol to be worshipped, and Jonathan, the son of Gershom and grandson of Moses, served as a priest for the tribe of Dan, and his descendants served as their priests until the people were taken away into exile. ₃₁Micah's idol remained there all the time that the Tent where God was worshipped remained at Shiloh.

₁In those days, before Israel had a king, there was a Levite living far back in the hill country of Ephraim. He took a woman from Bethlehem in Judah to be his concubine, ₂but she became angry with him, went back to her father's house in Bethlehem, and stayed there four months. ₃Then the man decided to go after her and try to persuade her to return to him. He took his servant and two donkeys with him. The woman showed the Levite into the house, and when her father saw him, he gave him a warm welcome. ₄The father insisted that he stay, and so he stayed for three days. The couple had their meals and spent the nights there. ₅On the morning of the fourth day they woke up early and got ready to go. But the woman's father said to the Levite, “Have something to eat first. It will do you good. You can go later.”

₆So the two men sat down and ate and drank together. Then the woman's father said to him, “Please spend the night here and enjoy yourself.”

₇The Levite got up to go, but the father urged him to stay, so he spent another night there. ₈Early in the morning of the fifth day he started to leave, but the woman's father said, “Eat something, please. Wait until later in the day.” So the two men ate together.

₉When the man, his concubine, and the servant once more started to leave, the father said, “Look, it's almost evening now; you might as well stay all night. It will be dark soon; stay here and have a good time. Tomorrow you can get up early for your journey and go home.”

_10-11But the man did not want to spend another night there, so he and his concubine started on their way, with their servant and two donkeys with pack saddles. It was late in the day when they came near Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), so the servant said to his master, “Why don't we stop and spend the night here in this Jebusite city?”

_12-13But his master said, “We're not going to stop in a city where the people are not Israelites. We'll pass on and go a little farther and spend the night at Gibeah or Ramah.” ₁₄So they went past Jebus and continued on their way. It was sunset when they came to Gibeah in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. ₁₅They turned off the road to go and spend the night there. They went into the city and sat down in the square, but no one offered to take them home for the night.

₁₆While they were there, an old man came by at the end of a day's work in the fields. He was originally from the hill country of Ephraim, but he was now living in Gibeah. (The other people there were from the tribe of Benjamin.) ₁₇The old man noticed the traveller in the city square and asked him, “Where do you come from? Where are you going?”

₁₈The Levite answered, “We have been to Bethlehem in Judah, and now we are on our way home deep in the hill country of Ephraim. No one will put us up for the night, ₁₉even though we have fodder and straw for our donkeys, as well as bread and wine for my concubine and me and for my servant. We have everything we need.”

₂₀The old man said, “You are welcome in my home! I'll take care of you; you don't have to spend the night in the square.” ₂₁So he took them home with him and fed their donkeys. His guests washed their feet and had a meal.

₂₂They were enjoying themselves when all of a sudden some sexual perverts from the town surrounded the house and started beating on the door. They said to the old man, “Bring out that man that came home with you! We want to have sex with him!”

₂₃But the old man went outside and said to them, “No, my friends! Please! Don't do such an evil, immoral thing! This man is my guest. ₂₄Look! Here is his concubine and my own daughter, who is a virgin. I'll bring them out now, and you can have them. Do with them whatever you want. But don't do such an awful thing to this man!” ₂₅But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and put her outside with them. They raped her and abused her all night long and didn't stop until morning.

₂₆At dawn the woman came and fell down at the door of the old man's house, where her husband was. She was still there when daylight came. ₂₇Her husband got up that morning, and when he opened the door to go on his way, he found his concubine lying in front of the house with her hands reaching for the door. ₂₈He said, “Get up. Let's go.” But there was no answer. So he put her body across the donkey and started on his way home. ₂₉When he arrived, he went into the house and got a knife. He took his concubine's body, cut it into twelve pieces, and sent one piece to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. ₃₀Everyone who saw it said, “We have never heard of such a thing! Nothing like this has ever happened since the Israelites left Egypt! We have to do something about this! What will it be?”

₁All the people of Israel from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, as well as from the land of Gilead in the east, answered the call. They gathered in one body in the LORD's presence at Mizpah. ₂The leaders of all the tribes of Israel were present at this gathering of God's people, and there were 400,000 foot soldiers. ₃Meanwhile the people of Benjamin heard that all the other Israelites had gathered at Mizpah.

The Israelites asked, “Tell us, how was this crime committed?” ₄The Levite whose concubine had been murdered answered, “My concubine and I went to Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin to spend the night. ₅The men of Gibeah came to attack me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me; instead they raped my concubine, and she died. ₆I took her body, cut it in pieces, and sent one piece to each of the twelve tribes of Israel. These people have committed an evil and immoral act among us. ₇All of you here are Israelites. What are we going to do about this?”

₈All the people stood up together and said, “None of us, whether he lives in a tent or in a house, will go home. ₉This is what we will do: we will draw lots and choose some men to attack Gibeah. ₁₀One tenth of the men in Israel will provide food for the army, and the others will go and punish Gibeah for this immoral act that they have committed in Israel.” ₁₁So all the men in Israel assembled with one purpose — to attack the town.

₁₂The Israelite tribes sent messengers all through the territory of the tribe of Benjamin to say, “What is this crime that you have committed? ₁₃Now hand over those perverts in Gibeah, so that we can kill them and remove this evil from Israel.” But the people of Benjamin paid no attention to the other Israelites. ₁₄From all the cities of Benjamin they came to Gibeah to fight against the other people of Israel. _15-16They called out 26,000 soldiers from their cities that day. Besides these, the citizens of Gibeah gathered 700 specially chosen men who were left handed. Every one of them could sling a stone at a strand of hair and never miss. ₁₇The rest of the Israelite tribes gathered 400,000 trained soldiers.

₁₈The Israelites went to the place of worship at Bethel, and there they asked God, “Which tribe should attack the Benjaminites first?”

The LORD answered, “The tribe of Judah.”

₁₉So the Israelites started out the next morning and made camp near the city of Gibeah. ₂₀They went to attack the army of Benjamin, and placed the soldiers in position facing the city. ₂₁The army of Benjamin came out of the city, and before the day was over they had killed 22,000 Israelite soldiers. _22-23Then the Israelites went to the place of worship and mourned in the presence of the LORD until evening. They asked him, “Should we go again into battle against our brothers the Benjaminites?”

The LORD answered, “Yes.”

So the Israelite army was encouraged, and they placed their soldiers in the same position as they had been the day before. ₂₄They marched against the army of Benjamin a second time. ₂₅And for the second time the Benjaminites came out of Gibeah, and this time they killed 18,000 trained Israelite soldiers. ₂₆Then all the people of Israel went up to Bethel and mourned. They sat there in the LORD's presence and did not eat until evening. They offered fellowship sacrifices and burnt some sacrifices whole — all in the presence of the LORD. _27-28God's Covenant Box was there at Bethel in those days, and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron, was in charge of it. The people asked the LORD, “Should we go out to fight our brothers the Benjaminites again, or should we give up?”

The LORD answered, “Fight. Tomorrow I will give you victory over them.”

₂₉So the Israelites put some soldiers in hiding round Gibeah. ₃₀Then for the third successive day they marched against the army of Benjamin and placed their soldiers in battle position facing Gibeah, as they had done before. ₃₁The Benjaminites came out to fight and were led away from the city. As before, they began killing some Israelites in the open country on the road to Bethel and on the road to Gibeah. They killed about thirty Israelites. ₃₂The Benjaminites said, “We've beaten them just as we did before.”

But the Israelites had planned to retreat and lead them away from the city on to the roads. ₃₃So when the main army of the Israelites pulled back and regrouped at Baaltamar, the men surrounding Gibeah suddenly rushed out of their hiding places in the rocky country round the city. ₃₄10,000 men, specially chosen out of all Israel, attacked Gibeah, and the fighting was hard. The Benjaminites had not realized that they were about to be destroyed. ₃₅The LORD gave Israel victory over the army of Benjamin. The Israelites killed 25,100 of the enemy that day, ₃₆and the Benjaminites realized they were defeated.

The main body of the Israelite army had retreated from the Benjaminites because they were relying on the men that they had put in hiding round Gibeah. ₃₇These men ran quickly towards Gibeah; they spread out in the city and killed everyone there. ₃₈The main Israelite army and the men in hiding had arranged a signal. When they saw a big cloud of smoke going up from the town, ₃₉the Israelites out on the battlefield were to turn round. By this time the Benjaminites had already killed the thirty Israelites. They told themselves, “Yes, we've beaten them just as we did before.” ₄₀Then the signal appeared; a cloud of smoke began to go up from the town. The Benjaminites looked behind them and were amazed to see the whole city going up in flames. ₄₁Then the Israelites turned round, and the Benjaminites were thrown into a panic because they realized that they were about to be destroyed. ₄₂They retreated from the Israelites and ran towards the open country, but they could not escape. They were caught between the main army and the men who were now coming out of the city, and they were destroyed. ₄₃The Israelites had the enemy trapped, and without stopping they pursued them as far as a point east of Gibeah, killing them as they went. ₄₄18,000 of the best Benjaminite soldiers were killed. ₄₅The others turned and ran towards the open country to the Rock of Rimmon. 5,000 of them were killed along the road. The Israelites continued to pursue the rest to Gidom, killing 2,000. ₄₆In all, 25,000 Benjaminites were killed that day — all of them brave soldiers.

₄₇But 600 men were able to escape to the open country to the Rock of Rimmon, and they stayed there four months. ₄₈The Israelites turned back against the rest of the Benjaminites and killed them all — men, women, and children, and animals as well. They burnt every town in the area.

₁When the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, they had made a solemn promise to the LORD: “None of us will allow a Benjaminite to marry a daughter of ours.” ₂So now the people of Israel went to Bethel and sat there in the presence of God until evening. Loudly and bitterly they mourned: ₃“LORD God of Israel, why has this happened? Why is the tribe of Benjamin about to disappear from Israel?”

₄Early the next morning the people built an altar there, offered fellowship sacrifices and burnt some sacrifices whole. ₅They asked, “Is there any group out of all the tribes of Israel that did not go to the gathering in the LORD's presence at Mizpah?” (They had taken a solemn oath that anyone who had not gone to Mizpah would be put to death.) ₆The people of Israel felt sorry for their brothers the Benjaminites and said, “Today Israel has lost one of its tribes. ₇What shall we do to provide wives for the men of Benjamin who are left? We have made a solemn promise to the LORD that we will not give them any of our daughters.”

₈When they asked if there was some group out of the tribes of Israel that had not gone to the gathering at Mizpah, they found out that no one from Jabesh in Gilead had been there; ₉at the roll call of the army no one from Jabesh had responded. ₁₀So the assembly sent 12,000 of their bravest men with the orders, “Go and kill everyone in Jabesh, including the women and children. ₁₁Kill all the males, and also every woman who is not a virgin.” ₁₂Among the people in Jabesh they found 400 young virgins, so they brought them to the camp at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.

₁₃Then the whole assembly sent word to the Benjaminites who were at the Rock of Rimmon and offered to end the war. ₁₄The Benjaminites came back, and the other Israelites gave them the girls from Jabesh whom they had not killed. But there were not enough of them.

₁₅The people felt sorry for the Benjaminites because the LORD had broken the unity of the tribes of Israel. ₁₆So the leaders of the gathering said, “There are no more women in the tribe of Benjamin. What shall we do to provide wives for the men who are left? ₁₇Israel must not lose one of its twelve tribes. We must find a way for the tribe of Benjamin to survive, ₁₈but we cannot allow them to marry our daughters, because we have put a curse on anyone of us who allows a Benjaminite to marry one of our daughters.”

₁₉Then they thought, “The yearly festival of the LORD at Shiloh is coming soon.” (Shiloh is north of Bethel, south of Lebonah, and east of the road between Bethel and Shechem.) ₂₀They said to the Benjaminites, “Go and hide in the vineyards ₂₁and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to dance during the festival, you come out of the vineyards. Each of you take a wife by force from among them and take her back to the territory of Benjamin with you. ₂₂If their fathers or brothers come to you and protest, you can say, ‘Please let us keep them, because we did not take them from you in battle to be our wives. And since you did not give them to us, you are not guilty of breaking your promise.’ ”

₂₃The Benjaminites did this; each of them chose a wife from the women who were dancing at Shiloh and carried her away. Then they went back to their own territory, rebuilt their towns, and lived there. ₂₄At the same time the rest of the Israelites left, and every man went back to his own tribe and family and to his own property.

₂₅There was no king in Israel at that time. All the people did just as they pleased.